Sixty-two, the situation that is quietly out of control
White House, Washington, D.C., United States
It was another routine breakfast meeting, the sun was shining outside the window, and the omelettes and steaks on the table were exuding tantalizing aromas, but President GonzΓ‘lez had no appetite. And the cronies and staff members who sat at the same table with him were also in a tangled mood and frowned.
As usual, unless there are special circumstances, the only people who can attend the breakfast at the White House are close political allies of the president, including the president's security assistant, the secretary of state, the White House chief of staff, and a few other small circles. Although it is not a formal office meeting, many major decisions about the United States and even Shijie are actually discussed in such informal settings. Just like Montgomery and Eisenhower during World War II, they decided to attack Sicily in the toilet.
At this moment, there are several briefings on the table in front of them, listing the latest requirements of the Japanese government. Although all the White House dignitaries present here are basically aware of the recent negotiation and mediation process between the United States and Japan, they still feel a little annoyed when they look at this almost unilateral clause.
ββ¦β¦ To the Japanese government to return the Yokota base, Zama Barracks, Yokosuka military port and other military bases near Tokyo, as well as the Misawa airfield near the Tsugaru Strait in the north, and the withdrawal of the Seventh Fleet from Tokyo Bay, and the cessation of financial subsidies to the US forces stationed in Japan? β
President Gonzalez snorted and flapped his fingers on the table, "...... Who do they think they are? How dare you really say 'no' to the United States?! β
The rugged Latina president roared as he raised a cup of coffee with a melancholy face. The fragrant omelette toast and veal steak on the plate didn't whet his appetite at all, and only this bitter cup of black coffee could lift his spirits a little," ...... Isn't the total collapse of Tokyo's financial markets a clear enough expression of the anger of the United States of America? β
ββ¦β¦ Mr. President, in fact, under the double blow of the financial bankruptcy of the Japanese government and the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, no matter what attitude the United States has expressed. Japan's stock market is doomed, and an economic crisis sweeping the country is imminent. β
The Secretary of State explained without humility or arrogance, "...... So. Today's Japanese people are already self-defeating and don't care about anything. They seem to believe that the source of this series of disasters. All of this is due to the White House forcing Japan to buy large quantities of long-term U.S. Treasury bonds. Therefore, having suffered such a heavy blow, it is necessary to recover some compensation from the United States. β
ββ¦β¦ Compensate? Did the Japanese think of the United States of America as an insurance company? I remember that we signed a security treaty, not a contract for life and property insurance! "President Gonzalez rolled his eyes indecently, as informally as he did when he was a cowboy on the farm," ...... What countermeasures can we come up with against the unreasonable behavior of the Japanese? What does the White House think tank have to suggest? β
ββ¦β¦ It's still the same old thing, in six steps. The Secretary of State shrugged his shoulders, "...... First, lodge a protest. But the Japanese, who are already desperate, will not listen. More importantly, the timing is far from right, as NATO allies and international organizations are already very disappointed in our refusal to assist Japan in its fight against the nuclear crisis. If it further interferes with Japan's self-rescue efforts, the international impact will be very bad. And there is nothing in return.
Second, to issue a warning, but this will also yield no results other than damage to the reputation of the United States, for essentially the same reasons.
Third, stop aid. Again, this is pointless. Except for the time immediately after the end of World War II, Japan has not assisted Japan for a long time, but in every foreign war and international conference, Japan has been constantly forced to pay for us. This time, too, we hope that Japan will continue to buy long-term government bonds, and we have forced them to sell them a bunch of obsolete weapons, and they are now on the verge of financial bankruptcy. β¦,
Fourth, severing diplomatic relations would be a bit too much and would be tantamount to destroying the special relationship between the United States and Japan.
Fifth, let the CIA assassinate Japanese dignitaries and subvert the current anti-American regime, but the problem is that it will take at least a few weeks to plan. Moreover, with Japan's current habit of changing prime ministers three times a month, the number of targets to be assassinated is also terrifying -- just killing the young prime minister is of no use at all -- and worse, the Japanese government is now on the verge of collapse, and if we kick them in the ass again, no one will be able to clean up the situation, thus plunging Japan into a state of complete anarchy and making the crisis even more serious.
Sixth, send troops to change their Government, as we did in Afghanistan and Iraq before. But the bad effects of this will be left aside, and once the US military occupies Tokyo, it will be tantamount to putting on our own burden of cleaning up the Fukushima nuclear radiation.
In short, no matter which choice we make, the result is more than worth the loss! β
The secretary bowed his head slightly to the president and concluded, "...... The final suggestion of the think tank is that for the time being, it is better to make more voluntary concessions to Japan, such as reducing the number of US troops stationed in Japan, returning more bases, keeping only a few key points, and giving away a batch of radiation protection equipment and medicines. In this way, we will dispel the anti-American mentality at the top of the Japanese leadership and ease the hostile feelings between the two sides -- anyway, it was our plan to shrink the front from East Asia and withdraw some troops to save money. Given the current state of affairs, can't Weishenme use this as a gesture of goodwill to Japan? β
ββ¦β¦ Indeed, in view of the lack of financial resources and the weakness of the national strength, we already have Jihua to shorten the East Asian front and withdraw part of the military liliang from Japan, and it may be on the agenda for next year or the year after, but that should be at least after the harvest of the Japanese economy has been completed! β
The hawkish White House chief of staff immediately retorted, "...... There are many things in this world, and it is better to regret it after doing it than to regret it because you don't do it! When dealing with Japanese people, you need to give them plenty of beating and spurring from time to time. Otherwise, if they tolerate it too much, they will definitely have itchy skins. And if it is the other way around, put enough pressure on these guys who eat hard and not soft, then they will be like oranges in a juicer, contributing even a drop of juice to us! β
ββ¦β¦ Your Excellency, I would like to ask you to recognize the fact that Japan is mired in the whirlpool of disaster. At present, he has managed to win the sympathy of Quan Shijie, and in public opinion, he has dressed himself up as a down-and-out vagabond: if we forcibly apportioned a donation to the rich, many people may take it for granted. But snatch a dollar from the bowl of a beggar who is about to starve to death. But it will definitely attract public outrage -- although the Japanese actually have a lot of wealth, if the Fukushima nuclear crisis really breaks out and spreads, it will spread the radiation to the entire archipelago. Then these riches will indeed turn to ashes in an instant. β
The Secretary of State took over without showing weakness, "...... Continuing to oppress Japan will only push them further towards China and strengthen the liliang of the opposing camp. Moreover, after the nuclear crisis, the Great Riot, and the paralysis of the government, is there anything else that can be harvested by peaceful means in Japan today? Unless we let this ally disintegrate completely! If you don't do something, you just regret it for a while, and it's a big deal to do it later, but if you regret it when you do it, then it is often irremedy, and it will be a lifetime thing if you don't get it right. β
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In the face of the quarrel at the breakfast meeting about the diplomatic line with Japan. New Mexico's cowboy-turned-President Gonzalez had a deep headache for a while.
Character-wise, he is supposed to be a rough and aggressive hawk, but his political stance and harsh reality force him to be a dove.
Truth be told, the current American society does not welcome a large-scale military operation. And the U.S. finances are struggling to sustain a long war.
Now, in recent years, with the gradual solidification of social classes and the quiet dimming of the "American dream", the entire society within the United States has been torn more seriously than during the Great Depression years of President Roosevelt. As far as war is concerned, there is a general war weariness among the people at the bottom. However, most of the conglomerates are belligerent, and they have always fought against overseas countries with rich resources, but they have turned a blind eye to the chaos in Mexico, which has long been on fire.
-- Indeed, the official attitude of the United States has always been in favor of the Mexican Government's strict anti-narcotics efforts, because the ultimate sales market of Mexican drug trafficking gangs is in the United States, and the health of the American people is ultimately poisoned by these drugs. However, because the US intelligence agencies, police agencies, and certain conglomerates have always been deeply involved in drug trafficking networks in Latin America, and even commonly use drug trafficking to make extra money, the drug war in Mexico is about to turn into a civil war in the United States. Many spies and informants affiliated with the CIA and FBI have been killing each other for many years in Mexico and even in Latin America, and the guys sent by the government to fight drugs have never been able to beat the people who sell drugs for private gain.
Of course, for a shijie hegemon like the United States of America, the drug problem can only be described as a mustard problem. However, the long-term overdraft of comprehensive national strength is the key core that threatens the life and death of the United States -- astronomical military spending and the debt crisis that has snowballed have all been alleviated by turning on the printing press again and again to issue additional dollars. In addition, there is the widening of financial capital, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the shrinking welfare expenditure, and the declining quality of the population...... The signs of national overdraft have become so obvious that the reason why they can barely maintain the strong image of the Shijie police is entirely due to the United States' status as the sole superpower of the whole Shijie and through the monetary hegemony built on military hegemony.
Relying on this hegemony, the White House and Wall Street can not only impose a full "seigniorage" but also enjoy the "safe haven effect" of global capital fleeing to the United States when any economic crisis escalates into a global crisis. So that Uncle Sam was able to raise the national debt ceiling again and again in a big way when he was in debt, and used the printing house to increase the issuance of dollar paper in exchange for more real material wealth created by foreigners.
In the same way, in order to continue to maintain this hegemony and not be overtaken or equalized by other countries, the United States has no choice but to maintain astronomical military expenditures year after year. However, this astronomical military expenditure is not only one of the main direct causes of the huge deficit and debt, but also because of its unproductive nature, which adds an increasingly unbearable burden to the already sick US economy.
And so on and so forth. Naturally, the deficit and debt of the United States can only swell year after year, just like pyramid schemes, which will one day become unsustainable and out of control...... Of course, relying on the hegemony of the dollar currency built on military hegemony, the United States is currently able to kidnap the entire Shijie to pay the bills for the insatiable gold-eating beast of the US military -- but the problem is. How long can this "good life" last?
-- Being too superstitious about force and not hesitating to overdraw the country's strength will lead to what will eventually lead to what will happen? In the history of the twentieth century, there have been many precedents: first Nazi Germany, which "wanted cannons, not butter", and then militaristic Japan, which was accustomed to gambling on the fortunes of the country on the battlefield. The other is the former Soviet Union, which was dragged down by the United States in the arms race with the "Star Wars jihua...... If it was before the advent of nuclear weapons, the militaristic state might have been able to use a shijie war to transfer the crisis, but after the emergence of nuclear deterrence, a full-scale nuclear war would mean the destruction of human civilization - otherwise, the Soviet Union would have not fought a third shijie war until its demise? β¦,
Therefore, among the American political elite, there are actually many people of insight who have recognized this crisis and are trying to turn the situation around and put the country's development path back on the right track, and President Gonzalez is one of them.
But here's the thing. The long history of the United States of America's reckless militarism and misuse of military power over the years has given rise to an extremely powerful interest group at home and abroad -- within the United States, there are military logistics-related enterprises that have profited handsomely from overseas wars; For decades, they have been throwing money on Jewish organizations that have lobbied Congress to send troops to Arab Shijie; military personnel who want to show their worth and gain more rights through war; right-wing political clubs advocating wanton interference in external affairs, the establishment of a "new Roman Empire", and so on. In other countries, there are also countless so-called democrats and oppositionists. Pinning hopes for the seizure of power on US intervention. There are also many crumbling comprador regimes and separatist histories, such as Kosovo and Bahrain, which are also largely dependent on the overt or covert military support of the United States and NATO in order to survive.
Therefore, these main fighters have made great efforts at home and abroad to try to keep the United States on the current track of indiscriminate military force. Ignoring whether this would lead to a tragic outcome of the collapse of the Soviet Union in Zuihou -- in fact, dragging down the United States, the shijie hegemon, through the attrition of the war, is likely to be the ultimate goal of some ill-intentioned "allies...... For example, since the end of World War II and the collapse of the colonial empire, he has been trying to "kill" the British John Bull in the United States......
In short, this interest group has launched an extremely powerful public relations lobby in the United States, which has long influenced the direction of American policy. Even if the wise people in the US leadership are determined to shrink the overextended front and maintain the national strength, the main militant bloc at home and abroad is already unstoppable.
In addition to the overdraft of national strength caused by the over-expansion of the front, as the national integration effect of the "shijie melting pot" of the United States gradually weakens, the increasingly intensifying domestic ethnic contradictions are also to a large extent depleting the liliang of the United States - since the Oba President Ma issued green cards to the first 12 million illegal immigrants, the rapid rise in the proportion of the minority population in the United States can no longer be contained. Subsequent presidential candidates, in order to win the votes of ethnic minority voters, have had to recognize the citizenship rights of all kinds of illegal immigrants, mainly from Latin America, again and again.
Over time, the combined population of ethnic minorities, including Hispanics, Asians, blacks, and Indians, has exceeded half of the entire population of the United States, while white Europeans, who were originally regarded as the "majority nation", have slipped from an absolute majority to a relative majority......
In the southern states of the United States, such as Florida, New Mexico, and California, where Hispanic residents are already overwhelmingly predominant, grassroots government officials who do not speak Spanish cannot do their jobs properly - in a sense, the lands that the United States of America had taken from Mexicans through war are now back in the hands of Latin Americans.
Obviously, as the population ratio changes dramatically within the United States, ethnic minority elites will also storm the pinnacles of power, trying to compete for political power commensurate with the population ratio. But the problem is that the European-American top-level political families, which have long been basically solidified, are not willing to give up their share of power for the rapidly growing Hispanic and other minorities...... And this obviously does not satisfy the growing minority population. β¦,
As a result, the struggle for the highest political power in the United States is now intensifying. Hispanic President Gonzalez, a representative of doves and minorities, has been subjected to frenzied attacks from traditional European-white political families and Wall Street conglomerates since he was elected to power......
-- The Juche nation has shrunk, ethnic contradictions have intensified, social classes have been solidified, the economic situation has been bad, the privileged class (financiers) have done whatever they want, the ideal of being the foundation of the country has gradually faded (ideological bankruptcy), and the country's resources have been excessively tilted towards the military field...... The hidden dangers that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union have been more or less budding in the United States of America in recent years. This made President Gonzalez's White House career really treading on thin ice, leaning towards dovish views, but also fearing that if he was not careful, he would become the Gorbachev who brought down the United States of America.
In order to win voter support, and to guard against the resurgence of hawkish shili, President GonzΓ‘lez instinctively resents any military action.
ββ¦β¦ All right! Then it was decided! concessions, withdrawals, shrinking fronts, humanitarian aid, dΓ©tente in diplomatic relations...... Since we were able to leave the Philippines in the first place, we can now withdraw from Tokyo Bay for the time being! Until the day we fully regain our strength! β
President GonzΓ‘lez rubbed his temples wearily and sighed as he made the decision, "...... The United States can afford this level of retreat! β
However, there is an old saying that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop. Just when President Gonzalez was determined to settle the situation, swallow this loss for the time being, and wait for the next day to draw up a list and settle the account, he never imagined that the national security adviser he sent to Japan to reconnoiter the situation at the front after the incident, or the president's personal magic adviser Barre, would bring him such a huge "surprise...... (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )